California board votes to limit who can install energy storage

The vote by a committee of the Contractor State License Board was not the worst outcome, but it begins a process to limit the kind of energy storage systems that solar installers who do not have an electrician’s license can put online.

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Last night the Legislative Committee of California’s Contractor State License Board (CSLB) voted to begin the process of limiting the installation of energy storage systems, including those that accompany rooftop solar, to licensed electricians.

In specific terms, this means those who hold a C-10 electrical license, and not solar installers who only hold C-46 licenses. While the committee did not go forward with an outright ban, the option that it chose would allow solar installers with C-46 licenses to install energy storage only under the following circumstances:

Limit to a PV system up to 10kW on a single-family dwelling or duplex with a battery system that must not exceed a 5kW backup/20kWh energy

The battery system is installed at same time as solar PV system

No upgrade or alteration is made to the existing electrical system

California Solar and Storage Association (CALSSA) blamed both the utilities and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), which had pushed for the outright ban on installations by C-46 license holders. The organization had choice words for CSLB’s action:

It was a blatant, outright abuse of power threatening to lead to arbitrary and capricious restrictions on thousands of workers and their contractor employers with absolutely no empirical data in support: simply because the utilities and the IBEW say so.

CALSSA and Vote Solar testified against the proposal during last night’s five-hour meeting, and CALSSA mobilized its members to testify as well. The organization says that concerns over safety are a “sham” and cites what it describes as the “impeccable” record of California’s solar installers, most of whom hold C-46 licenses.

“Watching the investor owned utilities and their henchmen bend a state agency to their will in broad daylight, attacking us in yet another forum at the expense of harming real businesses not to mention the state’s clean energy goals, was disturbing,” stated CALSSA.

But they were not alone; Sierra Club also testified in favor of the IBEW-backed proposal to entirely limit the installation of energy storage to C-10 license holders. In an email to pv magazine, Sierra Club described its position as merely wanting to “continue” the requirement that only C-10 licensed contractors can install energy storage, and “closing a loophole” that allowed non-electricians to install batteries. Sierra Club’s testimony provided further insight into its position:

We must have qualified people install and maintain battery storage systems in the safest and most effective manner whether they are stand alone or are paired with solar. For us, that means all battery storage systems – from residential to utility scale – should be installed only by licensed C-10 contractors with state certified electricians.

This is far from the end; CALSSA says that despite the desire of the IBEW and the utilities to put this matter to rest at the next meeting on September 24, that this is not going to happen. Instead, CALSSA says that it will “likely take months” for CSLB to develop the details of this restriction, which will be followed by another hearing and vote. “We are talking 2-3 years before any potential change hits the market,” stated CALSSA.

Update: This article was updated at 9:45 AM EST on August 8 to include Sierra Club’s perspective.

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Christian Roselund

Christian Roselund served as US editor at pv magazine from 2014 to 2019. Prior to this he covered global solar policy, markets and technology for Solar Server, and has written about renewable energy for CleanTechnica, German Energy Transition, Truthout, The Guardian (UK), and IEEE Spectrum.

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6 comments

“This is far from the end; CALSSA says that despite the desire of the IBEW and the utilities to put this matter to rest at the next meeting on September 24, that this is not going to happen. Instead, CALSSA says that it will “likely take months” for CSLB to develop the details of this restriction, which will be followed by another hearing and vote. “We are talking 2-3 years before any potential change hits the market,” stated CALSSA.”

This is the type of ‘action’ that will end up in court with solar PV developers and individual solar PV installation businesses joining in a class action lawsuit against IBEW, CSLB.

This is about letting qualified people only work on systems that can burn someone’s house down. The C46 contractor does not have the oversight that the C10 contractor does. The C10 by law has to use state certified electricians. The C46 does not. C46 contractors commit 10 times more wage theft and misclassification than C10s and contribute to the underground economy by hiring unskilled desperate individuals that will work for cash or overtime for free. The C46 contractor license was originally a solar water heater classification and they have used loopholes to move over to PV solar in the last 15 years. It’s time to do away with the C46 license all together. It’s only obvious that the C46 contractors are fighting this so hard because it would force them into legitimacy where there would be oversight.

I’ve been a C-46 Solar Contractor for 14 Years. I am a highly trained technician in all high voltage and low voltage battery systems and know so much more about solar than C-10s do and am also a highly trained and experienced electrician. However for me to have gotten a C-10 along the way would have had me drop being a leader in the solar industry and pull romex through walls for 4 years in order to get the time required to get the additional license classification. So you really want to push out us industry founders and highly trained techs just because IBEW wants to corner the market? It’s a severe injustice and slap in the face to those of us who have helped build the solar industry from the ground up.

I am a skilled professional in the Renewable energy industry for over twenty years. I hold BOTH a C-46 as well as a C-10 but my C-46 will ALWAYS come first. Having worked closely with both of these examinations I can say with absolute clarity, that the C-10 exam has only a fraction of the ESS (battery and Energy Storage Systems) questions that the C-46 Exam has. C-10 electricians know very little about DC energy. C-10 electricians know very little about batteries. As a whole, any renewable energy practitioner has leaps and bounds more experience with making and storing energy and electricity. I encourage anyone interested in renewable energy (including battery storage) to SEEK OUT A C-46! As they have the experience and knowledge needed to deal with ESS !

Why doesn’t the Sierra Club go back to walking turtles across the street and stop trying to put there greedy little noses where they have no business! This is American bureaucracy at it worst. Just another way to screw thew small business owners that blazed the trail and built the industry. I dont even have a dog in the fight but Im praying for the underdog! May justice and common sense prevail

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